Monthly Archives: May 2010

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Congratulations to Samantha Melvin, art teacher at RJ Richey Elementary School in Burnet Texas, for being one of two PBS Teachers Innovation Award winners from Texas!

PBS and its member stations celebrated 50 of the nation’s most innovative preK-12 educators who are discovering new ways to engage their students and inspire them to achieve. The PBS Teachers Innovation Awards honors teachers who are transforming classroom learning and providing children with the tools they need to reach their full potential and succeed in the 21st century.

PBS will host the top 10 PBS Teachers Innovation Award winners for an exclusive behind-the-scenes trip to the organization’s annual membership meeting May 17-20 in Austin, Texas, where they will attend sneak previews of upcoming programs, meetings with producers, and participate in professional development workshops about teacher leadership and integration of Web 2.0 tools for collaborative learning. They will also receive a Logitech® Web camera and their SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard System, which allows teachers to build media-rich lesson plans and students to participate in collaborative and fun curriculum-based games such as those from PBS (http://pbskids.org/whiteboard/).

All winners will receive an exclusive educator’s kit filled with tools and instructional technology resources for the classroom from PBS and Elmer’s Products, Inc., as well as a Web-based facilitated course from the professional development service, PBS TeacherLine. Through the online resource PBS Teachers, the winners’ submissions will be featured as best practices case studies, and the winners will serve as teacher leaders and catalysts for expanding effective instructional techniques using public digital media in the classroom.

The PBS Teachers Innovation Awards program was created to identify innovative educators–including preK-12 classroom teachers, library media specialists, and homeschooling parents–and advance the profession through collaboration, networking and professional development. Educators were asked to submit a 200-word essay and video or photos demonstrating why they are innovative educators for categories ranging from digital storytelling to robotics. Earlier this year, President Obama acknowledged PBS as a partner in the “Educate to Innovate” campaign for showcasing educational excellence through the awards program. These awards are one way PBS is highlighting the work of creative, inspiring educators.

Douglas Drane of the Douglas Drane Charitable Trust recently donated $25,000 to KLRU’s Community Research Information and Service Project (CRISP). This project is central to KLRU achieving its mission to provide quality content that engages people- leading to a more vibrant community. Upon completion, CRISP will enable KLRU to enhance our ability to communicate with viewers and donors through enhanced web experiences. Mr. Drane’s considerable contribution will significantly help foster innovation and reduce fundraising costs by increasing our capacity to engage in electronic communication with our members, allowing us to devote more resources to the programming and services so valued by the Central Texas community.

Find out how being born in the wild has evolved over time on Nature, and how animals wrestling with the feelings and dilemmas that come with raising a baby, can mirror our own experiences at 7 p.m. Sunday.

When a local girl is found murdered on Masterpiece Mystery at 8 p.m. Sunday, suspicion fueled by racial prejudice points to a GI at the U.S. military base. In order to reveal the truth, Foyle must go head to head with the US Army.

For two centuries, American whale oil lit the world — powering the start of the industrial revolution and laying the groundwork for a global economy. Into the Deep: Whaling & America explores America’s first global industry and the volatility of the global marketplace at 8 p.m. Monday.

With 3-D graphics generated by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Nova’s “Hunt for the Supertwister” features spectacular footage of these terrifying twisters and gives viewers a front-row seat at 7 p.m. Tuesday to the risky and thrilling art of storm chasing.

Frontline/World investigates one of its own stories — “The Play Pump” — an apparently breakthrough idea to harness the energy of children to pump drinking water throughout remote areas of southern Africa at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Bolstered by testimony from autism experts, “Horse Boy” captures an astonishing physical and spiritual journey of a family in search of a miracle to heal their autistic son on Independent Lens at 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

Genghis Khan is often portrayed as a psychopath who killed his brother and ordered the death of his best friend. Is it accurate to remember Genghis as a merciless, brutal butcher? Let the historical facts presented in Genghis Khan help you decide at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

In the words of French survivors, some of whom still regard Churchill as a war criminal, this is the forgotten story of Churchill’s deadliest decision in 1940—to sink the French Fleet on Secrets of the Dead at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The creative chemistry of four brilliant artists made The Doors one of America’s most iconic and influential, as well as theatrical and mysterious, rock bands. Narrated by Johnny Depp, American Masters gives an intimate glimpse into their musical collaboration and offstage lives at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The pilot episode of Haunted Texas investigates the ghost sightings in the old Freedman’s Colony outside of Blanco, Texas at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. On each episode, Haunted Texas will travel throughout Texas to investigate different stories that are rich in history and steeped in paranormal lore.

Author and political commentator Arianna Huffington weighs in on the latest in politics and media on Texas Monthly Talks at 7 p.m. Thursday and 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

What happens when the Live Music Capital of the World goes digital? Discover how Austin’s music venues and bands thrive in the new music model on Downtown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Featuring a bizarre collection of Beatles tribute bands, How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin tracks down the stories of how the Cold War was won with music as much as with nuclear missiles at 8 p.m. Thursday.

For decades, the Soviet government banned the seminal rock music of the Beatles, but the barriers finally came down for Paul McCartney In Red Square at 9 p.m. Thursday, a pivotal concert that took place in the shadow of St. Basil’s Cathedral, Lenin’s mausoleum and the Kremlin.

Classic alternative rockers Pearl Jam take the Austin City Limits stage with tunes from their latest album, Backspacer, as well as catalogue favorites at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Thank you again for your support during the KLRU March pledge drive. We were able to raise more money, with less on-air pledge time than ever before – thanks to the swift and generous action of viewers like you!

If you pledged in March and requested a premium from any one of our special pledge programs as a thank-you gift, you should receive it during the month of May. We are happy to provide the CDs, DVDs, and other resources from your favorite programs and we truly appreciate your patience while your orders are processed and shipped.

If you have any questions about your pledge or the status of your premium order, please don’t hesitate to call KLRU Viewer Services at 512-475-9017 or email membership@klru.org.

Due to the availability of fewer episodes than anticipated of the second season of IT’S A BIG BIG WORLD and other concerns around underlying clearances, PBS will no longer be able to include it in PBS KIDS line up. As of Monday, May 3, SID THE SCIENCE KID will take over the slot of IT’S A BIG BIG WORLD.

Peabody Award-winning broadcast journalist Alison Stewart and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and Newsweek editor Jon Meacham will co-anchor Need To Know, a new weekly primetime news and public affairs series slated to debut nationally on PBS May 7th.

A cross-media initiative built around a wide community of journalists and producers, with input from a savvy engaged audience, Need To Know on PBS will cover five primary beats: the economy, the environment and energy, health, national security and culture. Stories, interviews, blogs, video and photo features will offer ongoing updates online, with the production teams inviting interaction and input from users who are on the lookout for the latest information on a given subject.

Each week’s online story development will culminate in the weekly one-hour broadcast, curated from the week’s reporting by the various beat teams and co-anchored by Stewart and Meacham. The broadcast will feature documentary-style field reports, from both domestic and international locales, short features and studio-based interviews and conversation to complement and advance the produced reports.